Maxwell, the senior incumbent quarterback who has received a great deal of exposure, for better or worse, and Terry, the red-hot freshman prospect that Michigan State fans can't wait to get their eyes on.

"They are both getting better, they are both having the same amount of opportunities, and they flash,'' Spartans coach Mark Dantonio said on Thursday, the last scheduled time he'll meet with the media until next Tuesday.

"That's the thing as a coach, you see a guy flash (show potential), you want to see the consistency over time,'' Dantonio said, seemingly suggesting that to be the two players downfall. "But Connor Cook flashes, there's no question.''

"He's big, he's powerful, and he can throw the football,'' Dantonio said.

O"Connor remains a bit more of a mystery, as he redshirted last season and failed to impress in the Green-White Spring Game, tasked with playing for both teams and never really getting into any sort of rhythm.

Also, O'Connor never ran the football — one of his strengths, particularly if Michigan State is developing a secondary package that would include the read-option as some speculate.

"Tyler O'Connor is a redshirt freshman, he can move around with the ball in the pocket,'' Dantonio said, "but it's about decision making at quarterback and creating on a consistent basis.''

Dantonio has set the bar high for his quarterbacks in addition to putting them under a great deal of duress with an inordinate amount of contact work.

To an extent, Dantonio knows some struggles can be expected against the Spartans' top-flight defense.

But that's also precisely the point; he wants to see which quarterbacks can respond to adversity an create under fire, the better to evaluate how they will perform in the upcoming season.

"We're playing against a good defense, a lot of stuff we really don't game plan for, and we have our entire package in on defense, and then some,'' Dantonio said. "So they see a lot of different things and that creates a lot of different problems for a quarterback.''

Dantonio said on Thursday that he would share his quarterback plans with his players on Monday and release them to the media and the general public on Tuesday.

Even then, he qualified the announcement.

"I would say the decisions will be made as to who is going to play,'' Dantonio said. "Now, once they get the green light to play, they have to assert themselves on the field to maintain.''

In other words, even once the depth chart is released, it will be subject to change at any time.

The Michigan State quarterback competition, it seems, will remain fluid for an indeterminable amount of time.